Springtime For Luffy
by Alastair
Summary: It's not spring yet, but love doesn't know a thing about seasons. One shot story before ALPTN. To OP-fan188989, you didn't even read the whole thing, so you've nothing to say.


**Springtime For Luffy**

"Ready! Set!" Chopper jumped up and down, "Go!"

Luffy and Usopp burst into a run then, nearly neck and neck as they ran across _Sunny_'s grassy deck. They made it across the grass fine, and then up to _Sunny_'s figurehead to touch it, but going back down was the problem.

Usopp had begun to take the lead then, zooming in front of the rubber man, and Luffy gaped. Quickening his own pace, Luffy leapt down the stairs, and he might have made it into the air and past Usopp if he hadn't tripped over his own feet. He wobbled over the staircase before he careened forward, his chin hitting the corner of a step, and making his teeth snap down hard on his tongue before his face then skidded into the grass when he slammed down the rest of the staircase.

"Luffy!?"

Groaning, his eyes creaked open before he blinked at yellow painted toe nails, and then his eyes slowly drifted up to see Nami's frowning face.

He wondered when she had gotten there, and then vaguely remembered seeing her come out of storage during the race. "Luffy! You need to be more careful."

He saw her face, but he wasn't looking at it.

She was wearing short, white, tight shorts, and they fitted to every little minor curve of her hips and buttocks. They were a snug fit. Luffy pulled himself quickly up to his feet as Chopper and Usopp jogged over.

Chopper jumped up once, "Luffy, are you okay!?""

"Huh?" He blinked down at the reindeer, and then he felt his lip and slightly bloody tongue before he said, "No. Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" Usopp tilted his head, "You hit the ground pretty … Ah!? Is that blood!?"

"No! No, it's not!" Luffy blinked when he realized they were all looking at him and not Nami, so he sweated slightly, "So … I'm fine. See you guys later, okay?"

Raising a brow, Usopp said, "What …?"

"Nami!" Luffy turned to her then, gripping her shoulders, and she stiffened slightly, gaping at him, "What're you gonna be doing? You want to uh – draw? Let's go do something, Nami." He turned her around, and began to push her ahead of himself.

She looked back at him, "What are you doing!? Quit pushing me!"

He could see it. He could only see it because he knew where to look, but he walked behind her as if the others would see it, and know where to look. Behind him, he heard Usopp, "Is this … springtime for Luffy …?"

Luffy frowned at that, but said nothing, and ignored Nami's grumbles. He was about to direct her to the kitchen, but thought better of it when he remembered that Sanji was there, and instead Luffy pushed her into her room.

Blinking rapidly, she looked back at him over her shoulder, astonished, and confused, "Luffy, what-?" He shut the door then, staying on the outside of her room, and flushing darkly. "Luffy!" She tried to open the door, but he held it securely shut, "Luffy!?"

"Just … just stay in there for a bit. I'll … I'll go get Robin, and she can help you."

"Help me with what!? Beating you into a pulp!? Let me out!"

"Na – Nami, I – I'll be back. Just stay in here until I get Robin, okay?"

"Let me out!"

"Just for a bit, Nami, please! I promise! I'll be right back!" He bolted when he didn't hear any answer, and he shouted, "Robin! Robin, where are you!?"

On the deck from where Usopp and Chopper were watching, Usopp said, "Uh … That's a little too far, Luffy. Most guys just ask girls out first."

Chopper blinked, looking up at Usopp then, "Is this a human mating ritual?"

"I think it's a Luffy mating ritual. You hear that call? It's the sound of a wild Luffy who's crying out to attract an older, out-of-his-league female to come to his aid."

"Ooh! _Wow_!"

"Cut that out!"

"Here, he tries to scare away other males. We must stay on our guard, and stay out of this strange but natural part of a Luffy's development."

Luffy ran to go into library then, his head peeking in, "Robin!"

She looked up, smiling softly, "Yes, Luffy?"

"It's Nami. She needs your help!" Taking her wrist into his hand, Luffy pulled her up to her feet to drag her out of the library.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, no, but she needs you do go do something for her!"

"Why didn't she come get me then?"

After a moment, he realized that pulling on Robin was a mite too easy, and her voice was getting further away. He looked over only to blanch as he saw her still seated in her chair. Apparently, Robin had grown an arm for him to grab only to continue extending it with more arms as he tried to pull her along.

"Robin! You gotta hurry, or she'll leave your guys' room!"

"Luffy, what's going on?"

He deflated a bit then, his cheeks flushing dark red, "Well … uh, Nami needs your help with something …"

She raised a brow at him, and he dropped her hand. Her bloomed arms disappeared then, and she smiled, "I'm sure you can help her just as well. You came this far, didn't you?"

Luffy's cheeks stained darker just thinking about it, and he turned away, "But …! But it's gross!"

"Then why would I want to do it?"

Groaning, he turned around then to trudge up to the ladder which led to the bathroom of the ship. She blinked up after him, but he didn't look at her as he then went inside, and took a deep breath.

!#$%^&*()_+

Nami almost tripped over something in her path when she finally left her room. She had decided to humor Luffy, but after about ten minutes with no sign of Luffy or Robin, she had finally come out.

She looked down on what she had tripped on, only to frown softly.

"You ate it all, didn't you!?"

"Agh! No, I didn't, Sanji!" Luffy grimaced, backing away from the chef as he sweated heavily.

Picking up the little bag, she peeked into it before pink touched her cheeks, and she glanced around to look for Robin, but she was not in sight.

"Then give it back!"

Luffy dodged the kick to his face, somersaulting backwards away from the angry man, "I can't do that!"

"Ah! So you _did_ take it!" This time, the shoe connected, and Luffy's head impacted against the grass only to skid a small ditch into it.

"Oi! Watch what you're doing there!" Franky shouted from the upper deck.

Nami ducked back into her room with the little bag, and took off her shorts before she paled at the side of the small red stain in the crotch. Her knees slowly fell to the floor, and her hands trembled slightly, staring at the red before she bit her lip. She lowered her head to press her forehead to the hem of her shorts before the tears welled up to wet them.

_I thought … It took so long that I thought it would never … ever happen …_ Beginning to sob freely then, she smiled as she tried to wipe away the tears, _I thought __**I**__ couldn't …!_

A thud from the deck made her bag fall over, and she startled before her smile returned. Reaching over, she pulled out the box of pads only to pause when she saw the thick stack of dark chocolate that had been beneath it.

"You stashed it somewhere, didn't you!?"

Nami pulled out a bar before the tears returned again.

"No, I didn't! Nyaaah!"

!#$%^&*()_+

"You know …"

Luffy blinked with the eye that wasn't swollen over and he looked over to see Nami striding over slowly. She was wearing a new pair of jean shorts.

He tilted his head, "What?"

"Well, dark chocolate … goes very well with oranges."

This made him pay a bit more attention, leaning forward a bit with a wide grin, "Yeah?"

Beaming, she lifted her nose up, "Uh huh!" He began to drool, almost expecting to see an orange and chocolate bar left over for him pop magically into her hand, "It was all delicious!"

He drooped, "All … of it?"

"That's right …" her smile grew as Luffy pouted. As he stared at her, she bit her lip, and lowered her eyes.

His head leaned to the other side then, realizing that she wasn't leaving his side yet, so he said, "Oh, well … I remember Robin and Sanji saying that chocolate was good for feeling better."

"I do feel a lot better."

Luffy paused before he grinned, and touched his dark hair to emphasize it, "Since we're out of chocolate then, I'll make you feel better next time too!"

She blinked, staring before she smiled, and twisted her orange hair around one of her fingers, "I'm sure there's something left to sweeten that."

His unswollen eye widened, "Nami …"

Standing up, Nami turned away to walk across the deck, "Good night, Luffy."

Swallowing nothing, he watched her go, feeling his chest grow tight as he watched her hips swing.

Had they always done that? Had he only just now noticed? Or was Nami simply doing something to him that she hadn't before that moment?

Luffy tugged at the rim of his hat to cover his burning face, "Damn it, Usopp … It's the middle of fall. It's not springtime yet …"

**THE END**


End file.
